Reports from the rivers are great fun.  Amongst all areas of Steelhead University, reports receive some of the highest traffic. Although sometime inspiring, entertaining, and useful for getting a feel for an overall fishery, reports are far down the list in terms of value when it comes to planning a successful fishing trip.  Why?  Because rivers are in constant state of change, and reports are nothing more than what happened… yesterday. 

“Should have been here yesterday,” few statements contain so much truth that they become universally accepted and understood by anglers everywhere.  Chase the hot fishing report and you’re confronted with this statement often.  The difference between the anglers who seem to be involved in the hot fishing reports and those often frustrated by being a day or two behind comes down to an understanding of when and why fish move, and the river conditions that create exceptional fishing days.  In other words, these anglers are not focused on a river they want to fish, they’re focused on the river conditions that produce great fishing and targeting the river that offers those conditions on a given day.

Triggers to fish movements can get complicated.  Different fisheries, at different times of the year, in different locations, can be driven by different sets of circumstances. Spring chinook face different circumstances than fall chinook.  Some rivers are damned, others aren’t.  Some rivers are fed by snowpack, some by rain.  It all can make a difference.  For getting started, few sets of rivers are as easy to figure out as coastal rivers. 

Barring extensive periods of exceptionally high rainfall or the opposite low rainfall, there is a river on the coast that is producing excellent fishing for salmon (fall) and steelhead (winter) on virtually a daily basis.  It’s really that simple, and for those of us with a day job, quite cruel.  Figuring them out is a lot like a puzzle.  All you need to do is get all the pieces, and make them fit.  As far as the pieces go, you can do some serious damage with a calendar and a river level graph.

The Calendar

Your calendar is the proverbial broad brush stroke.  It allows you to take a list of ten to twenty river possibilities down to five to ten good ones, based on run timing.  Within a group of steelhead streams, there are those known for early returns and those known for late returns (sometimes it an early hatchery return and a late wild fish return).  In December, you might target such Oregon rivers as the Necanicum, North Fork Nehalem, Wilson, Alsea and main stem Umpqua.  By mid-February, target rivers might include the Nehalem, Trask, Siletz, and North Fork Umpqua.  The same scenario exists for fall chinook.  Some rivers are known for earlier returns: Nehalem, Trask, Nestucca, Siletz, Coos and Rogue for examples.  Some rivers are known for later returns: Wilson, Kilches, Elk, Sixes and Chetco for examples. 

River Levels

Most sizeable rivers in Oregon and Washington have a gauge station on them.  River levels chart the gauge readings at intervals, throughout each and every day, allowing trends to be seen from the comfort of our homes.  Those rivers that don’t have gauges can be interpreted from those rivers nearby that do, simply by past experiences.  We provide links to Oregon and Washington river levels on the Resources page of Steelhead University. 

River levels are the fine brush stroke, the detail work.  They are also the explanation of why a hot midweek fishing report can be followed by a weekend drought on the same stream, and why at times a crowded river, or stretch of river, can seem to be vacated overnight.  Those anglers haven’t stopped fishing, or catching, they’ve simply moved locations to the next hot spot.

As rains sweep across the Northwest coast, rivers go on the rise, signaling waiting fish that it is time to ascend.  Fish react quickly to rising water and while you may encounter them on a raise, they are difficult to catch.  Their focus is on travelling, not biting.  As the rains continue, rising water turns dirty, visibility drops to near zero and the rivers go “out of shape.”  When the rivers go out it’s a peaceful time.  All you can do is wait.   

The rains do end, or at least subside, and eventually the river levels peak.  Then they begin to drop.  Muddy rivers give way to slowly increasing visibility.  Six inches.  One foot.  Two feet.  The days you hear about are the days when a solid three feet of visibility meanders towards four.  Fish that have entered the river on the high water are fresh, willing biters.  There is enough visibility for them to see your offerings, yet enough remaining color in the water that they are comfortable.  The trouble for many anglers is that these conditions do not present themselves uniformly throughout all rivers.  This is the whole key to putting river levels to work for you.

Naturally, the smaller rivers will shed water and come into shape faster than larger ones.  Rivers of the same size can also clear at different rates.  Most small streams do not have gauges on them, so you need to develop a system of indexes from nearby rivers that have gauges.  Smaller streams like the Necanicum and North Fork Nehalem and Kilches, can come into shape in a single day in some instances.  When you hit one of these small rivers in prime fishing condition, grab a river level reading from the Wilson River, or similar, upon your return home and make note of it. 

Also realize that the larger streams may fish high in the watershed first and then progress down river. The Silets and Umpqua (North, South and main) are prime examples.  As the Siletz River slides below six feet, anglers will concentrate high on the river’s boat launches.  With continued dry conditions, they’ll move down as the river drops and seek out the better conditions offered by lower drifts where more water is present.  On the Umpqua system, the North Fork clears incredibly fast, the South Fork days later and finally the main stem itself.    

From this point you’ll begin to develop a circuit that keeps you casting into excellent water conditions.  You’ll have a pretty good knowledge of what to expect from each river, before you ever get there.  If you like to drift fish bait, your rotation will keep you on steelhead green colored streams with good flow.  Plug anglers will target rivers carrying some color, but overall good visibility so steelhead can see those lures coming.  Jig fishermen will know when the water is clear, and flows lightened up to make the presentation slower and easier.  Your focus will begin to change from fishing a river to fishing good catching conditions on any river.    

Fall Chinook

Fall finds the coastal mountains dry from summer’s heat.  The first big rains of the fall will take rivers from a trickle to bank full levels.  But it won’t last.  The dry forests will absorb much of this water, returning the rivers to very low levels within days.  These oftentimes-dramatic fluctuations in water levels demand that you be ready to fish fall chinook on a days notice.  As river levels peak, they’ll fall with great speed in the absence of rain.

On the first day that visibility increases beyond two-feet, fish continue to move regularly throughout the day.  These are the days you can fish one spot, and clean house.  In this darker water, focus on quality bait, fished slowly to produce strikes.  The plume of scent put out by a sizeable bait of eggs is easily located by salmon.  As these fish are fresh into the river, these biters are the best chinook have to offer, commonly eating baits with aggressive authority.  High river flows add to the power of these fish, making for epic battles. 

It could be the next day that visibility increases to four-, five-, and even six-feet.  Daylight movement will slow, with fish moving at night.  The chinook will keg up in the deeper holes, but will also still be in the smaller pockets.  When fishing these conditions you want to be very thorough, fishing every spot you are able to get into and making sure you’re not leaving biters behind.  Bait is again a great option and with increased visibility, Kwikfish become a great choice also.  Plugs can be outstanding producers, but they do require visibility to be most effective.

By the third day of fishable water following a storm, it is not uncommon for fall rivers to be back to crystal clear conditions.  Chrome fish from just days ago are already taking on color.  These are the boat race days where anglers shoot for high-percentage holes and try to be first to arrive on them.  The small pockets are gin clear, which reduces target water to main holes.  Oftentimes the first one or two fish can come easily before the salmon get tentative in biting.  Under these conditions, take slow fishing to new levels.  Pound fishing spots until you are sure there are no willing biters left because others are doing the same in other spots.  Oftentimes the difference in catching fish on these days is finding a single group of willing biters.  Bait is again a great choice (as always), but be sure not to overlook Kwikfish (fished very slow) as you can corner these low water fish and force a reaction.

In the above scenarios, they killed ‘em on day one, did well on day two, and by day three a few boats caught fish and the rest scratched their heads.  Following a rain, knowing river levels can have you into day one and day two conditions for many more days, provided you are willing to rotate rivers. 

Winter Steelhead

By the onset of winter, the coastal mountains are deep with rainwater.  Rivers come down from high water at a slower pace, and over a longer period of time.  Where fall’s challenge is finding rivers with enough flow, much of winter steelhead season is finding rivers where water levels are down in the fishable range.

As I mentioned earlier, you have the luxury in winter seasons to concentrate on finding conditions that highlight you preferred fishing methods.  Quite often, conditions can remain very similar over days at a time, as small batches of consistent rain hold rivers steady.  Steelhead are also much different than salmon in length and pace of their return.  Steelhead tend to move steadily over weeks and months, instead of plowing up a river in great schools.

In the end, everyone uses and enjoys fishing reports.  They can certainly show if a river is receiving a larger than anticipated return, or the return is lasting longer or shorter than normal.  Using and understanding river levels however, can lead to phenomenal days on many rivers nobody is talking about if you put yourself into the river conditions you need to be successful.  Follow your calendar and the trends on the river graph and anticipate where the hot bite will be tomorrow.